Advantages

Disadvantages

Can your best friend become your biggest enemy?

==Synopsis of the book:==

Following a major disagreement between Brodie Farrell and her best friend Daniel Hood. Brodie discovers he has put his house up for sale and has disappeared into thin air. After consulting with her partner Detective Superintendent Jack Deacon she decides that maybe she needs to apologise to Daniel, so she sets out trying to trace him. After leaving messages with the Estate Agent he still has not been in touch but she discovers he is visiting family she never knew he had in Nottingham.

However things start to happen to Brodie and after her handbag is stolen and her car torched. Both her and Jack realise this is no coincidence and she is being targeted by someone unknown. She makes a list of the people who may have a grudge against her, which amounts to five. But Jack tells her perhaps she should now consider Daniel also as a suspect, the only problem is they must find him first. Then she receives a call from a man that sounds like him and is subjected to a terrifying ordeal in the library lift as it takes on a life of its own. Can he really be behind all these horrible acts? Jack knows for the sake of Brodie's well being they must find out quickly.

==My thoughts on the book:==

I thought this was a very interesting and well written crime mystery. I found I really enjoyed it and I think part of the reason was this story was different in many aspects from the previous books I had read in this series. This series written by Jo Bannister so far has nine different books and this one is the fourth of these and was written in 2004.

For me the key feature of these stories is the relationship between the three main characters and I have always found this fascinating. But for the first time mid way through this book all these characters are on the same side and trying to achieve the same goal. It was good to see it and I liked the fact they could all get on so well as in previous books there had always been respect for each other but they all have strong principles and this leads to problems particularly between Daniel and Jack the two main men in Brodie's life.

I selected this book basically on the basis that I love these stories that feature Brodie Farrell. I had a Amazon voucher and I knew my only decision would be to select which of the novels in the series I wanted to read next. Well the first thing that struck me was the unusual title to this book and having read it I must say it was a brilliant title. That is because this concept of solitude is so prevalent throughout the story and it is visible in so many of the scenes incorporating a variety of different characters.

My mind was made up basically after reading the good length summary on the back cover if the book. It was two paragraphs long and it told the story very briefly of Brodie and Daniel's friendship seemingly in tatters following a disagreement and her blaming him for a death. I thought this sounded very different as it is usually Jack and Daniel at war with each other and it was good to see Brodie and her partner on the same side trying to find him.

So I started the book and was initially quite disappointed the reason and background between Brodie and Daniel's fall out was not fully explained, it was only as the story developed the basics where explained. As I found it hard to believe these two friends could ever fall out so badly. The story flowed well and I enjoyed the growing suspicion as 'accidents' kept happening to Brodie. With Jack trying to work out in his role as a Policeman who was trying to hurt his partner.

At this stage the reason to why Brodie was being targeted where considered. However the solution to it seemed very obvious to me even through I didn't know who it was and I was amazed it took Jack and Brodie so long to suss it out. And felt either I was on form for once or it was a little to obvious and the others where just being a little bit nieve. As a result this part of the story was a little slow for me as I waited for them to catch up.

Although when they did I really started to enjoy the story again and I was really impressed in how it developed, as it was certainly an angle I had not expected. I found in this story the suspense was very cleverly and well written. I felt I was on tender hooks for the last 120 pages of the story. It made a nice change for me in this story that we where not waist high in dead bodies and I appreciated this. Yes a little more mystery would have been good as that evaporated half way through and I few more suspects could have created this.

It was intelligently written and all the twists and turns in the story where both unexpected but in keeping with the concept behind the story. With a very exciting conclusion to the story that left me wanting to know what happened next. As I felt it all ended a little too abruptly and I really wanted to know what happened next. I suspect I will have to read the next in the series to find this out.

One of my main reasons I love this series of stories is the amazing characters within them. I really love the very usual relationship between the three main characters and the way these change and alter over time, the chemistry is mazing and I think the author does an amazing job to write and explain their different views and opinions on any given subject. They just interact so well and for me a continuing reader of the series it seems like coming back and catching up with friends.

But it is not only that with the main characters. She is also excellent at producing believable characters with diverse characters that either appear occasionally in each book or a one off role in a specific story. I find because of her excellent skills at describing not only the new character but their feelings that you instantly remember them and want to know more about them too.

For me this was not the best story in the series, but it was slightly different and that in itself made the story interesting and unique. And while I would have liked a slightly longer conclusion or an epilogue it did allow me to decide what would happen next the key players in the story.

==Conclusion:==

For what you can pick this paperback up I would say this is a bargain I would recommend. It was always well written and very cleverly thought out. I really enjoy the three way relationship between the main characters within the story. My only concern was part way though the story the answer seemed very obvious to me while the main characters struggled for ages to work it out and I'm sure I wasn't being fabulously intelligent, so it just slowed the story down for me.